In traditional Chinese medicine, there’s a prescription called “Tongqi San,” which I often use to treat waist strain pain. It’s almost instantly effective.
A strain of the waist often occurs due to improper postures when reaching for things—picking things up from the ground, reaching overhead, twisting back for an item, or lifting heavy objects. Incorrect sleeping postures or sitting postures can also contribute to waist strain problems.
Most doctors refer to such an injury as a “strain.” I remember decades ago when my wife strained the muscles near her fourth thoracic vertebra (the acupuncture Gaohuangshu point (BL 43). Her doctor told her that her only treatment option was vitamin injections, and it took a long time for her to recover. In traditional Chinese medicine, however, this condition is considered more easily treatable.
First Aid for Strains
When straining the waist, the most common symptom is pain on either the left or right side—often presenting an acute psoas strain with muscle damage. If the pain is in the spinal area, it might be a spinal strain, which is rare. Pain on one side near the coccyx might indicate a strain in the synovial membrane of the fifth lumbar vertebra.
1. Waist Strain First Aid–1 Simple Move
What can you do when you have an acute waist strain? Let me teach you the simplest acupressure point for first aid—called the “sprain point.”
Naiwen Hu
Naiwen Hu is a Traditional Chinese Medicine physician at Shanghai Tong Te Tang in Taipei and a former Stanford Research Institute scientist. Hu has treated more than 140,000 patients, taught at an American university, and hosts a popular YouTube health program with 900,000 subscribers, as well as international wellness roadshows.
